Amalfi Coast and Capri for three generations

1. Day 1: Arrive in Naples, an early dinner in Sorrento

   Naples to Sorrento along the Bay of Naples

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 1 details

   We meet the whole family at Naples International Airport (NAP) or at Napoli Centrale station and drive you to Sorrento in our own vehicle, about 50 km and an hour and a quarter along the bay, with Vesuvius on your left. There is no bus, train or ferry to work out with tired children and heavy cases. Sorrento is the right first base for three generations: the old centre around Piazza Tasso is flat and walkable, the town sits on a cliff above the sea with lifts down to the harbour, and there is food for every age within a few minutes. The rest of the afternoon is for settling in, a nap or the hotel pool where there is one. Your See Sight Tours guide meets everyone at 18:30 for a short briefing, then we walk to an early welcome dinner, so the youngest are in bed at a sensible hour.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Naples International Airport (NAP) or Napoli Centrale station
   • Private transfer to Sorrento
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Early welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the 18:30 briefing

2. Day 2: Capri by boat, at a family pace

   Sorrento to Capri by ferry, around the island by boat, Anacapri

   • By ferry
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 2 details

   An early fast ferry, about 25 minutes, puts us on Capri around 9:00, ahead of most day-trippers. A small boat of our own is waiting at Marina Grande and takes the group right around the island: sea caves, the arch through the middle stack of the Faraglioni, and the cliffs below Villa Jovis, where the emperor Tiberius lived from AD 27. If the sea is calm and the queue short, everyone who wants to can switch to the little rowing boats and lie back to slip into the Blue Grotto; the entry is on us, but the day does not wait for it. After lunch together, a minibus climbs to Anacapri. Ride the single-seat chairlift up Monte Solaro, the island's highest point, or sit in the shade of the main square with a granita. We take a mid-afternoon ferry back, so the evening in Sorrento is free and unhurried.

   Included

   • Fast ferry from Sorrento to Capri and back
   • Small-boat trip around Capri for the group
   • Blue Grotto entry, if it is open and the wait is short
   • Lunch on Capri
   • Minibus between Marina Grande and Anacapri
   • Monte Solaro chairlift tickets

   Easier option: Stay in Capri town after lunch: the funicular climbs from the harbour to the Piazzetta, and the Gardens of Augustus are a gentle ten-minute walk from there.

   More active option: Walk down from Monte Solaro to Anacapri by the path past the Cetrella hermitage, about 45 minutes and steep in places.

   Free time: Evening free in Sorrento

   Activity: The Blue Grotto opens only when the sea is calm and the tide is right, and it closes without notice; the day works without it. Getting in means stepping down into a rowing boat and lying flat for a moment, and anyone can stay on the bigger boat instead. We name the boat operator when we confirm your dates.

   

3. Day 3: Pompeii at opening, then a pizza class

   Sorrento to Pompeii and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 3 details

   We drive about 45 minutes to Pompeii, the Roman town buried by Vesuvius in AD 79 and listed by UNESCO in 1997, and go in at opening, 9:00, when it is cool and the stone streets are quiet. A licensed archaeological guide leads a route chosen for mixed ages, about two hours rather than the usual three: the Forum with Vesuvius behind it, a bakery with its millstones, a fast-food counter children recognise at once, painted houses and the plaster casts. The guide keeps to the smoother streets where possible and stops often in the shade. We are back in Sorrento for a late lunch together, then the afternoon is for the pool, a rest or gelato in Piazza Tasso. At 17:30 the whole family puts on aprons for a pizza-making class, stretching the dough and topping it with local tomatoes and fior di latte, and the pizzas you make are your dinner.

   Included

   • Pompeii entry with a licensed archaeological guide, about 2 hours
   • Lunch in Sorrento
   • Pizza-making class and dinner in Sorrento

   Easier option: After the first hour, rest at the site cafe near the Forum with one of the group while the guide finishes the loop; the van can also collect you early.

   More active option: Stay on with the guide for the amphitheatre at the far end of the site, about another hour and 2 km on foot.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Sorrento

   Activity: Pompeii is uneven Roman paving with high kerbs and little shade. Bring hats, water and comfortable shoes; a folding stool or walking stick is welcome.

   

4. Day 4: Lemon groves and a slow day in Sorrento

   Sorrento, on foot

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 4 details

   A day to slow down in the middle of the trip. After a late breakfast, your guide walks the group a few minutes from Piazza Tasso to a family-run lemon grove in the centre of town, where tall Sorrento lemon trees grow under wooden pergolas and dark netting. The family shows how the fruit is picked and how limoncello is made; the adults taste it and the children get fresh lemonade. Then the day is yours. Take the lift down to Marina Grande, the old fishing harbour, for lunch by the boats; spend the afternoon at a bathing platform on the sea; or stay by the hotel pool. In the late afternoon the terrace of the Villa Comunale gardens looks straight across the bay to Vesuvius, and the deep green gorge of the Vallone dei Mulini is a short walk from the square. Your guide is around to help with plans and restaurant tables.

   Included

   • Guided visit to a lemon grove in Sorrento, with a limoncello and lemonade tasting

   Optional experiences

   • A day on a Sorrento bathing platform with sunbeds and umbrellas, booked by your guide

   Free time: Free from late morning

   Activity: Easy walking on the flat streets of the centre; lifts link the town to Marina Grande and the bathing platforms.

   

5. Day 5: Positano and Amalfi by sea, on to Maiori

   Sorrento to Positano and Amalfi by boat, then Maiori

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Maiori
   Day 5 details

   Today we change base by sea rather than on the winding coast road. Your bags go ahead by van along the coast road to Maiori, about 50 km and an hour and a half, while the family goes by sea. A boat leaves Sorrento mid-morning, rounds the tip of the peninsula and runs along the cliffs to Positano, the way the town looks best: pastel houses stacked above the beach and the tiled dome of Santa Maria Assunta. We stop for a walk along Spiaggia Grande and an early lunch by the sand. In the afternoon the boat continues to Amalfi. Climb the wide staircase to the striped Cathedral of Saint Andrew, or sit in Piazza Duomo with an ice cream and watch the square. About 15 minutes by van then brings us to Maiori, which has one of the longest sandy beaches on the Amalfi Coast and a flat seafront promenade, home for the last three nights.

   Included

   • Boat from Sorrento to Positano and Amalfi
   • Luggage transfer by road from Sorrento to Maiori
   • Lunch in Positano
   • Transfer from Amalfi to Maiori

   Easier option: Stay at beach level in both towns: Positano's beachfront and Amalfi's Piazza Duomo are reached without climbing.

   More active option: Climb the lanes of Positano's upper town for the view back over the bay, about 30 minutes of steps up and down.

   Free time: Evening free in Maiori

   Activity: Boats depend on the sea; if a crossing is cancelled, the van takes everyone by road and the plan holds.

   

6. Day 6: Ravello's gardens, an afternoon on the beach

   Maiori to Ravello and back

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Maiori
   Day 6 details

   Ravello sits about 350 m above the sea, and in the morning, before the heat, it is the calmest town on the coast. Our van climbs about 25 minutes from Maiori to the main square, so there are no steep steps to start with. Villa Rufolo, a 13th-century palace whose gardens Richard Wagner admired on a visit to Ravello, opens just off the square: flower beds, a Moorish cloister and terraces over the domes and the bay. Then we walk the gentle, partly stepped lane to Villa Cimbrone, about 15 minutes, for the long garden avenue and the Terrace of Infinity, a balustrade of marble busts hanging over the coast. Lunch is in Ravello. By early afternoon the van brings us back to Maiori, where sunbeds and umbrellas are booked for the family at a beach club on the sand, with shallow water near the shore for the youngest.

   Included

   • Villa Rufolo gardens
   • Villa Cimbrone and the Terrace of Infinity
   • Lunch in Ravello
   • Sunbeds and umbrellas at a Maiori beach club for the afternoon

   Easier option: See Villa Rufolo, then wait in the shade of the square with a coffee while the others walk to Villa Cimbrone.

   More active option: Walk down from Ravello to Minori on the old stepped path, about an hour, then along the seafront to Maiori.

   Free time: Afternoon at the beach, evening free

   Activity: Villa Cimbrone's avenue is level, but the lane there has some steps and gentle slopes.

   

7. Day 7: A boat day along the coast, then the farewell dinner

   Maiori by boat to the Emerald Grotto, Furore and back

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Maiori
   Day 7 details

   A boat for the group picks us up at Maiori in the morning, when the sea is usually calmest, and follows the coast west past Minori, Atrani and Amalfi. We stop at the Emerald Grotto at Conca dei Marini, a sea cave where light coming in under the water turns it green, visited by rowing boat; then idle into the narrow inlet of the Fiordo di Furore, crossed high above by a road bridge. Where the water is clear and calm we anchor for a swim from the boat, with life jackets and masks on board for the children, and anyone who would rather stay dry can sit in the shade on deck. We are back in Maiori by lunchtime. The afternoon is free for the beach, a nap or the Path of the Lemons to Minori. In the early evening we sit down together to a farewell seafood dinner, with fried anchovies, pasta and a children's menu.

   Included

   • Boat trip for the group along the coast, with life jackets and snorkel masks
   • Emerald Grotto entry, when it is open
   • Farewell dinner in Maiori

   Easier option: Stay on board for the swim stop and at the Emerald Grotto, where boats can wait outside.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, walk the Path of the Lemons from Maiori to Minori through terraced groves, about an hour, with steps up and down.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: The swim stop and the Emerald Grotto depend on the sea; in rough weather we stay closer to Maiori or swap in the Amalfi paper museum.

8. Day 8: Maiori to Naples

   Maiori to Naples airport or Napoli Centrale

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   After breakfast there is time for a last walk along Maiori's seafront or a final swim before the drive. Our van takes the family over the Lattari Mountains or round by Salerno, depending on traffic, to Naples International Airport (NAP) or Napoli Centrale, about 70 km and an hour and a half. We plan one group transfer timed for midday flights. If you are flying early, tell us when you book and we will arrange your transfer to suit, and if you are going on by train, fast trains reach Rome in a little over an hour. Families who want more time on the coast can add nights in Maiori or Sorrento before or after the trip; ask us when you book and we will hold the same rooms if they are free. Grazie for travelling with us, all three generations.

   Included

   • Transfer to Naples International Airport (NAP) or Napoli Centrale station

   Free time: Morning free in Maiori

   Activity: Book flights from NAP after about 13:00 to make the group transfer.

Wildlife and weather: May, June and September are warm enough to swim without the strongest heat. July and August are the hottest and busiest months, so those departures keep sightseeing to the mornings. Boats, grottoes and many hotels close or cut back from November to March.

• Sorrento4 nights
• Maiori3 nights